Enclosure, Gortnagane, Co. Kerry

Co. Kerry |

Enclosures

Enclosure, Gortnagane, Co. Kerry

On the north-facing slopes of The Paps of Dana, the twin-peaked Kerry hills long associated with the goddess Anu in Irish mythology, a small oval enclosure sits quietly in rough hill pasture.

It measures roughly nine metres east to west and seven metres north to south, defined by a drystone wall, the kind built without mortar by stacking and fitting stone by hand, standing about one and a half metres high and just under half a metre thick. Nothing about its construction announces itself; it is described as roughly built, functional rather than formal, the kind of structure that raises more questions than it answers about its original purpose.

The enclosure's western side has an entrance break, with a short wall extending outward from its northern edge, projecting six metres to the west. On the interior, a further section of walling reaches inward from the southern face. These features suggest something more considered than a simple field boundary, though the precise function remains unclear. What sharpens the interest is the presence of a mound barrow roughly thirty metres to the northwest. A barrow is a burial mound, typically prehistoric in origin, and the proximity of this one to the enclosure hints at a landscape that was used and marked over a long period, even if the relationship between the two structures cannot now be read with any certainty.

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Pete F
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